A Fly on the Wall: Don't limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve. Mary Kay Ash

Hello. Happy Monday! We had a great day learning today.

We started our Journey of Fallen Rock book today. We read the first chapter and discovered what the 6 challenges are that the father gives both of his two sons. One of my favorite parts of this book is the character addressed throughout it. The two brothers have such a wonderful and healthy relationship. Most books with competition address mean issues. This one, the two boys are constantly encouraging each other while doing their best. Awesome role modeling going on! We also got our map of the USA ready. It is now divided into the 5 regions and tomorrow we will map out the two brother's routes to complete the challenges going from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Cool! At the dinner table tonight, ask your child to share at least one of the six challenges the boys will face. If they can tell you, write CHALLENGE in the planner for $10. The six challenges are: collect shell from atlantic ocean, a feather from a bald eagle, a whisker from a mountain lion, a pine cone from a tall tree in rocky mountains, a pouch of water from the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, and another shell from the Pacific Ocean.

In reading today we dived back into our Lead 21 books. We took a closer look at how dance deals with heritage. We even got to do a dance…a square dance that is. Enjoy the video!

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We also started our leveled books today. I used the kids placement tests they took last week to create their groups. As I am just starting to know your kids academically, I am trusting this test and the research behind it this time. As I work with kids more in small group, I will probably end up moving many kids from group to group depending on their needs. All groups will be learning the same skills. It is the depth, method, and the pace that changes from group to group. I will text you tonight what group your child is in. I ask that you don't make a big deal about the group meanings level wise. I promise all kids will make growth this year! I do not share what these book letters mean with kids. I just tell them they are in this group.

A: Above grade level
B: On grade level
S: Slightly below grade level
I: Below grade level

In Science today, we started our lessons on wind. We talked about how wind is found in any kind of weather, sunny or stormy. We also talked about how if we didn't have wind we would not have weather, just like the moon. We connected this to a book we read about the flag the other day and how the footprint of the astronaut is still up there undisturbed due to this exact thing. No wind…no weather. Pretty cool. On Wednesday, we will be treated with a first hand lesson from a real live meteorologist from KULR8. A big thank you to Kyra's family for putting that one together. We look forward to that real world lesson.

We had honor choir tryouts today. A good luck goes out to Hanna and Dominic on that one. What a great opportunity for kids. My Emma made it last year as a forth grader and loved it! We hope to see both Dominic and Hanna on the stage as well this year! A BIG high five to both of them for even trying out. Takes guts!!!

Hopefully kids read their school themed chapter book this weekend. They know that they only have two and a half weeks left to read it. We are busy reading the one here daily in class as a model. I will not be giving out any details until it gets closer to the time. Right now, they should be reading at least 15 minutes a night for enjoyment.

Homework tonight is a reading comprehension sheet on the Pledge of Allegiance. We did an entire lesson on this awhile back at Fly Time. So, we did not read it aloud together. Kids need to read it at home and then complete the activity on the back. The back matches the front exactly. So, if they get stuck, please lead them back to the front rather than telling them the answer. Thanks.

Tuesday folders come home tomorrow. There is once again a lot of information. I want to remind you about our Saturday Live Basket donations. There is a detailed sheet in the folder tomorrow. I got our first gift card this weekend at Olive Garden. Please send in others to add to our basket soon. Cards are due on Friday the 19th so that Noah B's mom can organize and build our basket. I have put a list of cards collected on the side of the blog under the spelling words. This way we can avoid duplications. I will add to the list each time new ones come in. Thanks so much for doing this!

I leave you with another hall display. Since I am out of wall space in our area, I have now taken over the wall in front of the library. Thanks to Mr. Casey for allowing me to do this each year. I hope you take a closer look on Sept. 19th during open house at your child's superpower. They did a great job writing their very first RACE paragraph!